Bridget Donovan bags her lemon tree at her Waukesha home. The offending tree was then turned over to the USDA.

Feds put the squeeze on Waukesha lady's lemons

Periodically, columnist Jim Stingl hits the streets of Milwaukee. To see his latest video columns, click the thumbnails below.

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Pointing to the potted lemon tree sitting there so innocently in her driveway, Bridget Donovan summoned her best sarcasm: "This is the little lawbreaker."

The sweet-smelling tree shared Bridget's Waukesha home and yard for nearly three years. She bought it online for about $70 as a fun project for her and her niece. The tree didn't appear to be a lemon in the consumer protection sense, and it produced beautiful shapely fruit.

This month, a letter from the feds arrived in her mailbox.

"Ms. Donovan, our records show that a Meyer Lemon Tree was delivered to you in November 2008 . . . ," it began.

Wait, what? The government has records about who gets lemon trees and when and from whom?

"Unfortunately," the letter from the Department of Agriculture continued, "Meyer Lemon Tree shipped your tree in violation of multiple quarantine laws enacted to prevent the spread of harmful plant diseases and pests," including citrus greening and citrus canker disease.

The tree came from Florida, which then was under quarantine because of diseases that affected fruit quality. Relying on subpoenas and other powers, the government has been tracking where the nursery stock was shipped.

Long story short, Bridget's lemon tree had to go. And it wasn't a matter of tossing it in the trash. The feds wanted to come and take it into custody.

People Bridget knows express surprise when they hear about this. Then they sing the old "Lemon Tree" song to her, the one that's about to get stuck in your head all day.

The seizure letter left Bridget with a sour taste in her mouth. So she called the USDA officer in Des Plaines, Ill., to press her for details. It struck her as odd there was this sudden urgency to neutralize her tree three years after she got it.

The officer said she would personally drive up here and confiscate the tree. Then it would be destroyed either by steam sterilization or incineration.

"Brutal," Bridget said.

The agent and then her supervisor made it abundantly clear that resistance was futile. Bridget asked them if they had a warrant.

"If you are refusing to give up the tree, we will come to your house and quarantine the tree in the house," the supervisor said. Fines also are possible.

Thinking she could do without federal agents swarming her neighborhood, Bridget agreed to cooperate. I was there last week when she pulled the tree from the pot and placed it in a trash bag as ordered. Five yet-to-ripen lemons were still lime green.

The next morning she drove it to work, where she arranged to meet the USDA officer. She works at a school, but prefers not to say which one.

Bridget looked out the window and saw the officer drive up. "She got out and had a big red bag, like those contamination ones you see in the hospital," she said.

The officer noted how large the tree was. "I guess that's a testament to the care I took of the tree, that it was that big and healthy. But it made me feel worse," Bridget said.

Alyn Kiel, a spokeswoman for the ag department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service in Washington, said this seizure operation has affected about 1,000 citrus plant owners like Bridget. Even healthy-looking trees carry the diseases, she insisted.

"I'm sure you're wondering: 'We don't grow citrus commercially in Wisconsin, so what's the big deal if the tree is infected?' The problem is that citrus trees or any other plant can very easily be moved. If someone has an infected citrus tree and has to move cross-country to a new area, that tree goes with them. And it's very possible that those diseases can be introduced to a new environment where citrus is a large commercial industry. That one of our big concerns," Kiel said.

The department has a hotline if anyone has a question about the origin of citrus plants or wants to report agricultural smuggling. The number is (800) 877-3835.

Meyer Lemon Tree apologized and is offering to give Bridget a free replacement tree. The company, which lists a Georgia address, explained that the problem was caused by a nursery they have stopped using to fulfill orders.

"I just hope the USDA is correct in that these (replacement trees) are now compliant, and I don't have them show up again in three years," Bridget said. "I'll be on a citrus watchlist."